Our Birth Story

'And this year's winner of American Idol issss........David....COOK!'

Those were the last words I remember before turning off the television for the evening. The evening our little girl, Olivia Bee, was born. Earlier in the day Karen convinced me to take a walk around town. Miraculously, as I think about it now, I made it through our entire walk withouth a heavy feeling from the baby or the huge draft of fatigue that had been sending me to bed for the past two weeks (this must have been my 'nesting instinct' or sudden burst of energy).. We walked around Church Square which is two blocks from our house and holds our city's library, our dog park, and soon-to-be child's park. We shared a footlong at Subway and went shopping at our local knitting store and two baby boutiques where I nabbed four more Aiden + Anais swaddle blankets. Then, we made our way home and began our evening of Idol.

The contractions began at about 9:00 PM that fateful Wednesday, May 21st. I didn't want to get worked up like I did the last time I contracted for 14 hours straight with no progress so just kept on with closing house for the evening. Through the evening the contractions woke me every 10 minutes until about midnight where they switched gears and pain intensity to 5-8 minute intervals for 30 minutes. Finally, by 12:30 we were running 2-3 minutes apart and we called the hospital. The doctor from our office who was on-duty told us to go labor + delivery to check my progress.

Well, folks, we were able to gather our stuff and get to the hospital by about 1:45 AM - this was after our discovery that the route we had practiced several times was closed in the wee hours of the morn due to construction. We had to play it by ear utilizing our knowledge of the NYC grid system and FINALLY got to the hospital. We checked into triage where we were greeted by Natalie + Wendy. Progress was slow at dilatation about 3-4 centimeters and decent contractions. Unfortunately, they would not set up a room for myself unless I was ready for epidural - which I declined since the pain was pretty manageable and I didn't want to be bedridden. Like I had mentioned, I had tried to take this journey au natural. The ladies sent us to walk around and try to increase dilation. In lieu, we decided to drive back home since Jason realized he had not turned off his 4:30 AM alarm clock...which wouldn't be a big deal if our clock shut off automatically, we didn't know when we would be home next, or wanted to bother/stress out the pets.

We arrived back at the hospital an hour later...approximately 3:30 AM where I continued to labor and give in to the pain of the contractions. We did not get into a birthing room until about 7:30 AM and I was amazed at how HUGE the room was - practically the size of our apartment (apparently, this is where they have VIPs or celebrities give birth...meanwhile, I am thinking I got a big room because something was wrong!). I was immediately hooked up with external monitors for myself and the baby as well as a four hour penicillin drip since I was GBS positive.

Once in the birthing room my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart but the pain was beyond anything I could imagine (later learning the pain was 7-9 out of a 10 scale when they put in the internal monitoring...so I think I can say I held my own). I was using the bathroom like CRAZY. Suzie, my nurse, (GOD BLESS HER spent the entirety of my labor with me and even arranged to be in the OR) was amazing with support, pointers, and conversation to get my mind off of things. I got my epidural at about 9:30 AM and it was WONDERFUL! My doctor, who is now, fortunately, on duty, checks my dilation. To everyone's dismay I am still at the same dilation. My doctor then decides to induce me with a pitocin drip from 10:30 AM until about 4:30 PM.

At about 4:45 PM my doctor came in and checked my dilation once again. I WAS ONLY DILATED 5 CENTIMETERS!!!! This is when the emotional part came in. Since I was GBS positive and we were not sure when my water broke, we had to get the baby out sooner then later, and waiting around with a higher dose of pitocin could prove to be a failure. At this point I was very emotional and VERY scared - not to mention exhausted. They had switched me to an internal monitor for my contractions and added a catheter hours ago. My doctor also explained that the reason I could not dilate more was because the baby's head was too big to fit through my pelvic bone and was unable to push down on the uterus to dilate more (we also later discovered that when he pulled her out she was face up).

We decided a Cesearean was best.

Immediately the ball began to roll. Dr. Alexander came and was my AWESOME anesthesiologist and Suzie was able to work her way into the operating room with me. So many other people came to introduce themselves to me but most was a fog since I was trying hard to focus on my meditative breathing to calm myself from the emotional stress of major surgery as well as the anesthesia was causing my entire body to shake uncontrollably (another little thing they fail to mention in books + forums...and lasted throughout the entire surgery and into the recovery room).

The surgery to get little Olivia Bee out lasted only about 15 miutes. Jason sat by my side through the entire event...when they said....'HERE SHE IS!'...and all these oooohs and ahhhhhs from the nurses proclaiming how CUTE she is. It took them awhile to get her to Jason because she kept taking a sh*t and then wouldn't close her legs. Her Apgar score was 9/9 (they don't give perfect scores - so good enough for us ^_^). Jason and I had tears welling up in our eyes as we heard her crying as she experienced the world for the first time. When Suzie finally handed her to Jason, Olivia Bee stopped crying. She began to suck on her hands. When I began to talk to her her mouth formed a big 'O', she turned her attention to my face, and her eyes opened wide - as if to say....I know you.

Then, just as quickly, she was sent to the nursery and I was sewn up (but not without overhearing my doc discuss the 'beauty' he just sewed up....much better than the plastic surgeon down the hall...LOL....may I add he also commented on this on our 2 week postpartum appointment and said I have to find friends who've had c-sections just to show mine off...whaaaa?!?). Anyhow, I remained in recovery from 8 until 11ish. It took a little longer for me to get over the anesthesia, epidural, and pitocin (oh, and the EXTRA anesthesia my doc hooked me up with cause I began to mildly feel them fiddling with my insides towards the end of the surgery).

Finally, I was sent to my room and settled by midnight. I asked to see our little girl one more time in person and fell asleep by about 1:00 AM....a mother.



Sorry this took so long to post. As you can imagine it's been interesting around the Sposa household with the adjustments of the new addition. I have so much to add but didn't want to write anything until I atleast had our daughter's birth story up before I forgot (and I am sure I have left details out or could not describe in words the emotions or events)...but mainly so that Olivia will have this forever available for her to experience through her mother's words.
And now, I commence my usual rants + raves...except now as the many adventures of a new mother in the big city.

xo
la nouvelle mère